up with the isis executioner known as jihadi john. he was targeted in an air strike in syria overnight. while there's no confirmation of his fate, it represent as joint manhunt by the united states and britain. john, whose real name is known as mohamed emwazi is to blame for deaths of hostages. here is secretary kerry speaking in tunisia. >> we're still assessing the results of this strike but the terrorists associated with daesh need to know this. your days are numbered. and you will be defeated. >> nbc's keir simmons is live in london. what can you tell us? >> jose, this is a real blow to isis and a measure of how difficult it was, as you can imagine, that it has taken a year for them to get to this point at the least. at the moment, there is no

definitive proof yet that jihadi john was killed, according to one u.s. official. and another says he was not targeted out of revenge but to demonstrate to isis that there is accountability. his voices infamous. holding a knife in horrific hostage videos. jihadi john, also known as mohammad emwazi. a senior u.s. official confirmed the strike on twitter reporting the death of jihadi john in a drone strike. his high-profile victims include james foley and steven soklof. american aide worker was another

victim. kuwait bomb mohammad emwazi turned gang member seen here wearing a pittsburgh pirates cap. the team called that sickening. freed hostages described him as sadistic. one of four british guards they called the beatles. jihadi john was the leader of the group. the strike targeting jihadi john come after the latest isis attack in lebanon where at least 43 people died last night in a double suicide bombing. his family all live here in london. no comment from their lawyer so far but the british prime minister has spoken calling jihadi john isis' lead executioner and says if he has been killed by the u.s., it was an act of self-defense. >> keir simmons in london, thank you very much. and joining me now, kevin

barron, military analyst and executive director of defense one. kevin, good seeing you. >> hi. how are you? >> good. what's the process of determining whether jihadi john was actually killed? >> well, so these statements you're hearing out of the u.s. military, it's the military's way of saying all that they can without 100% proof that they absolutely believe they got their man. i spoke to a senior defense official this morning who said they are 100% certain that two men were killed by hell fire missiles as they walked out of the building and in to their car. they are reasonably certain one of those was jihadi john. another u.s. official said that they thought it was very likely, also, that it was jihadi john. what they do afterwards is look for forensic evidence and try to get evidence of the body on the ground and match that to other evidence that they can, the dna, teeth, whatever they can. short of that, the pentagon likes to be extremely cautious before saying 100%. >> you were told essentially

100%. so assuming emwazi was killed, what does that tell us about our intelligence assets in syria that they were able to pinpoint this guy when he was walking out and get him? >> well, i think it's a good victory for the american way of counterterrorism right now. in fact, they are able to have such a precision drone strike inside the city of raqqa. it was believed a while ago that some of the hostage takers were there and holed up there. that might have been the reason they were not going after them, the potential for collateral damage. even if they are found, you make sure there's as much intelligence to gather from them and the connection to the big fish, which is baghdadi himself. jihadi john is a popular figure. he's well known and he was hunted but he's not the big fish. >> right. and so the question is, does this in any way get closer to finding and taking out people like al baghdadi?

because if it was this strike, there's probably not much left of there but is there a possibility of somehow getting in there and getting information that could lead to people like baghdadi? >> you would think that it could lead them up to higher-ups in isis. u.s. officials have said publicly there was good intelligence that was gotten from that raid. same thing with the previous public raid where they killed abu saif and captured his wife. little by little from the summer and till now, we've heard from american officials that they are getting more intelligence to lead them where they want to go. but again, this is a war that the americans have been so deliberate in fighting and step by step, not wanting kol lateral

damage. the full bite of the u.s. military could raise these places but instead we're seeing deliberate moves to go after deliberate people and jihadi john is just the latest high-value target to meet his end. >> kevin, thank you very much. good seeing you this morning. >> thank you. i want to check out a developing story, this one in lebanon, the country in mourning after a bomb killed 40 people and sent shock waves through the capital. there were twin suicide bombers in beirut occurring in a residential area. isis targeted its group for supporting the syrian government. our correspondent is in beirut. what is the latest, ayman? >> reporter: we had a chance to tour that neighborhood and it's still a community and neighborhood in shock. as we toured it, there were forensic examinations taking

place. we managed to get within a few hundred feet of that blast site and you could see an incredible amount of debris. we saw blood splattered on different parts of the pavement, windows blown out of stores and a lot of grieving families and people in that community. we made it to one of those areas and had a chance to speak to some of the folks there and definitely devastated and heartbroken over what happened yesterday. you're talking about the investigation and today the country's military prosecutor who is leading that investigation came to the scene to inspect for himself how the forensic examination was going on. they are collecting samples trying to determine the identity. there were two suicide bombs that managed to go off as a result of those attackers detonating themselves. a third suicide bomber was actually found dead at the scene before he was able to detonate his explosive. the investigation now is trying to determine who these individuals were and whether or not they had any kind of organizational backing.

you mentioned that isis has already claimed responsibility for this attack. there's no reason to doubt it. it seems to be a credible claim of responsibility but for the lebanese army, they are trying to connect the dots to figure out whether there are any other cells in the country. in terms of the country, no doubt about it, it's still very much in mourning. the country has declared three days of national mourning. flags have been ordered at half-staff and schools and universities here have been shut down for the first time since the civil war in syria began. jose? >> ayman, thank you very much. let's turn to politics and the reason we are here in orlando. 14 presidential candidates will be here speaking at the sunshine forum for the next three days. donald trump was 40 minutes to a rally when he launched into an epic 95-minute rant. it was one of those unforgettable campaign moment, even by trump's standards.

he renewed his attacks on ben carson, attacking his own claims on a violent youth and made a striking comparison. >> he said he's got pathological disease. he actually said pathological temper and then defined it as disease. so he says he has pathological disease. if you're a child molester, a sick puppy, you're a child molester, there's no cure for that. there's only one cure. we don't want to talk about that cure. that's the ultimate cure. well, there's two. there's death and the other thing. but if you're a child molester, there's no cure. they can't stop you. pathological, there's no cure. now, he said he was pathological. okay. >> with me now is chris jansing and hallie jackson with me here

in orlando. even for donald trump, this was intense. >> you called it epic. that's how you describe it. and there's three points to make here about how to follow of this. when ben carson starts slipping in the polls -- this is nothing unusual. this is out of character for even donald trump. but i should note that from our nbc polling, ben carson is one of two candidates who plays well among tea partiers, the libertarians and moderates. the second point to make is that donald trump, we haven't been talking about him over the last few days. we've been talking about marco rubio and ted cruz and rand paul. this is a way for donald trump to steal back that spotlight. he's our big political story heading into the summit today. this is the first time we've seen donald trump go after ben carson's redemption story.

this speaks to ben carson's faith and religious background and that plays well with conservative voters where evangelical voters are going to be key to the caucus. >> chris, what is ben carson's campaign saying about this? >> to pick up on what hallie said, 50% of republican caucusgoers in 2012 described themselves as evangelicals. you have to look at the wisdom basically equating the most popular guy in the polls, the most popular guy personally with a child molester and questioning his faith and what he called his dramatic conversion as something that a lot of people, who are evangelical, not only believe in but have experienced themselves. i think a lot of people were raising their eyebrows last night. this morning we'll see what dr. carson has to say. in the meantime, his campaign

while not commenting has pushed back really hard about a lot of foreign policy experts who have questioned a statement he made during the debate when he was asked about syria and i'm going to quote him. he said the chinese are there as well as the russians in spite of the fact that there's no indication that the chinese are indeed there. listen to susan rice, the national security adviser for the white house, about this. >> i can't really speak to what he was referring to. but, you know, unless you're talking about having a diplomatic preference, i'm not sure what you're referring to. i have not seen any evidence of chine chinese military involvement in syria. >> well, in fact, they did say the campaign in sending out reams of documents this morning that there was a misinterpretation of what dr. carson said that, in fact, he was referring to chinese influence and chinese weapons. that's another ongoing story

line, jose. >> meanwhile, mr. trump yesterday referred to his foreign policy and says he pretty much knows more about isis than the generals. >> correct. remember, a couple months ago he said chuck todd apparently in the last couple of months has said he would know more about isis than the generals do. he used an expletive describing in how he would bomb isis. >> he implied that he would bomb isis thoroughly. >> that is one way to phrase it. >> it's going to be very interesting to see him and all of the other candidates expected to be here in the next 24 hours in orlando at the sunshine summit. hallie jackson, chris jansing, thank you for being with me this morning. >> the democrats are headed to iowa. the second democratic debate is tomorrow night in des moines. the field will be considerably smaller with three candidates on the stage but with that lower

number comes higher stakes. kristen is in iowa. good to see you. >> reporter: secretary clinton tries to match that strong first debate performance she had. she'll do that tomorrow night when she faces off against her democratic challengers and this comes as secretary clinton has a 19-point national lead over her closest challenger, bernie sanders, 33% to 52%. that's down slightly from the lead in october but it's still commanding. clinton has been off the campaign trail preparing. meanwhile, her rivals, sanders and martin o'malley, are looking to ramp up their performances. aides say that during the first debate they stuck to their own policy positions, expect them to be more aggressive. this time they are going to draw on sharp distinctions with the front-runner on issues including the economy and immigration.

meanwhile, the clinton campaign defentding a story clinton first told in the 1990s and recounted it this week. she said in 1995, when she just moved to arkansas, that she actually looked in to rejoining the marines in some capacity and she was rejected. some skeptics, including some republicans, have questioned that. they say it's an unlikely choice for someone who had a yale law degree and who had participated in anti-war campaigns. late last night, a clinton aide said she firmly stands behind this story and added, "her interest was sincere and is insulting, but not surprising that republicans would attack her for this, too." all of this will be at the forum when the candidates face off tomorrow night here at drake university tomorrow night. jose? >> kristen welker in iowa, thank you. we have much more here from the sunshine summit here in florida. i'm talking about marco rubio and jeb bush. there you can see them. what they have to do to win over

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the university of missouri has named an interim president after the resignation of two top university professionals. students at other colleges are standing in solidarity with the university of missouri with rallies taking place across the country. in california, the dean of students resigned in clairmont college after protesters demanded better treatment for hispanics there. let's go live to columbia,

university, with sarah dallop. what is the story there? >> reporter: we're talking about schools including yale, vanderbilt, university of southern california and berkeley among those who have held demonstrations and walkouts in support of students here. and to push for change at their schools. already we're seeing the power of these protests. we've been seeing it all week. you mentioned the dean of students at clairmont mckenna resigning and the columbia campus where i'm standing, the head also stood down. former civil rights attorney mike middleton has been appointed interim president and spoke about his priorities moving forward. >> we've got to put the facts on the table. we've got to understand the ugly, ugly history that

permeates everything we do in our institutions in this country. and once we get the truth on the table, i think we're poised to reconcile those differences and move forward. >> reporter: as these protests and demonstrations have unfolded, there's been several threats targeting campus, targeting minorities posted on social media. police arrested 19-year-old hunter park for saying he was going to come to this school campus and shoot black students and the fbi is helping to investigate a threat at howard university where security there today, jose, is increasing. back to you. >> sarah dallop, thank you very much. back here in orlando, florida's own marco rubio will take the stage in less than two hours at the gop sunshine summit. rubio, as well as jeb bush, will be among 14 presidential

candidates in this forum. i'm joined by political reporter scott power. good to see you. >> good to see you as well. >> what does marco have to do here? >> they have a lot of trump and carson supporters here. i think they are going to want red meat, big hunks of benghazi and obamacare and whatnot. marco can do that. that may work for him. probably less so with jeb, i would imagine. he's going to come out here and try to talk policy some more. >> you've been speaking to strategists. what do both bush and rubio have to do here in the state? because right now they are not even in first or second place in the latest polls. >> no, they are not. this is very critical. they have to show this room, this gathering here that they can inspire this crowd. and if they don't, they are going to walk out of here and have a hard time finding support around this state. >> how do you explain the fact that the sitting senator from

the state of florida and a very popular governor of the state of florida aren't right now at least leading the popularity contest, which are the polls? >> trump mania. i mean, so much of the electorate right now just seems to want to have something radically different and with marco and jeb, you're not getting radically different. you're getting strong, solid policy. that's not what people want right now. >> talk to me about what floridians different from votes in other states are looking for and what is it specifically that you think that, you know, the top two issues that florida is concerned about. >> well, you know, i think there really is a big backlash in this state to obamacare among republicans. i think it's much more popular, of course, than others in the state. >> sure. >> that's something that has to be addressed and i think there's just such real discrediting feeling toward the current administration and they want to

see a radical term. that's what the trump is offering them. >> it's going to be tough for these mainstream candidates to kind of make headway. >> i think it will. jeb talk as great game with policy, as you know. he gets out there. he nuances things, he explains things and by that time people are saying, where is the beef? and with people like trump and carson and ted cruz certainly, they just start throwing it. >> do you think immigration is going to be a big issue? it's certainly something that all of the candidates have been speaking about, even in the last 24 hours. >> it plays differently in florida than it does elsewhere. i'm interested in seeing who wants to approach that subject here. we have such a large, diverse hispanic population, especially here in florida, that if the are republican party knows that if they want to attract votes in this population, they need to not tick people off and the

whole immigration debate when you start talking deportation and whatnot, that ticks people off. >> scott powers, thank you so much. >> thank you. after the break, we'll look at the other headlines making news, including the latest scandal involving an officer with the secret service. plus, we continue to following breaking news from overseas. a u.s. drone strike has targeted the english-speaking terrorist known as jihadi john. the pentagon has not yet confirmed that he was killed but believe he was in the vehicle targeted in the strike. if you remember, jihadi john was seen in several beheading videos. we'll be back from orlando, florida, with a whole lot more on msnbc live.

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he's due in delaware state court this morning. also, defense secretary ash carter is out after allegations of misconduct but defense officials will not say why lieutenant general ron lewis was removed from his job. in a statement, carter said, i expect the highest conduct particularly those serving in the most senior positions. lewis has been temporarily assigned to other offices pending the outcome of the investigation. and now to the investigation in to the illinois police officer who killed himself and staged it to look like a murder. investigators say that the lieutenant was stealing money from the police explorer program he ran. now police say they found illegally acquired military equipment stored in the basement of the community center where that program met. what they found included ballistic vests, combat boots, gas masks and gun belts. the kids were being trained more like soldiers rather than

police, which was not the purpose of the program. there are staggering new figures out today from the cdc with the number of kids with autism and more and more being diagnosed with the disease more and more. a new report found that 1 in 45 kids has autism in the u.s. that's a big jump from previous years. from 2011 to 2013, that number was 1 in 80. it may be due to a question on a survey which made it easier for parents to determine whether their kid had a form of autism. we have much more ahead live from the sunshine summit here in orlando where the gop presidential candidates will be taking the stage behind me today. one issue sure to come up is immigration. in particular, donald trump's plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. more on that and a whole lot more, next. akes a lot of work... to run this business. i'm on the move all day long... and sometimes, i just don't eat the way i should. so i drink boost to get the nutrition that i'm missing.

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sunshine summit featuring much of the gop presidential field. today we're going to be hearing from the home state guys in this race, former governor jeb bush and current senator marco rubio. the issue of immigration is sure to come up with donald trump reigniting the issue earlier this week. trump's plan now under scrutiny from many in the field but what are the other ideas? here with me now, o'keefe "the washington post." good to see. >> you good to see you. >> so, donald trump reigniting the issue. he did so from day one when he launched his campaign but is that really the only plan out there in the republican field? >> no. look, they all now generally agree, amnesty, the idea of letting people stay here and get full citizenship without penalty is a bad idea. >> but nobody has actually talked about that? >> in fact, in the last 48 hours or so we've seen a flare-up between ted cruz and rubio and then amnesty is not defined the way any of these guys are

talking about. ultimately they realize it's an issue that has to be resolved not only for their only political future but for the future of america and the economy. >> get rid of everybody and then you have somebody like senator cruz who has, at different times, but always against comprehensive immigration reform. >> right. it will be very interesting to see how it plays in this hall because florida, as you know, you know better than anyone, a very diverse state but much more sensitive about how it's discussed among hispanic voters. this is a state that relies on hispanic votes. >> let's talk about someone like marco rubio, part of the bipartisan gang of eight which passed come free hprehensive imn reform. he stepped back. what is he saying now? >> we have to do this but we can't do it in one big bill. we have to figure out border

security and improve the legal immigration system. but he has disavowed the bill he was a part of and it's ted cruz who has called him out on this on recent days satisfied, hold on a second, you were part of the chuck schumer and barack obama crowd. you can say you weren't for it now but you were for it a while ago and it's something that he's trying to remind conservative voters about because if he was for it then and against it now, what are the chances that he would be supportive later on? >> and the one who has been pretty consistent on immigration is the one who has not had a lot of attraction, former senator jeb bush. he's taken heat in the republican primary voter crowd for being that specific. >> it's arguably part of the reason why he started to decline last summer. i'm sure you'll see him talk about his position a little bit. >> what is his position? >> he would prefer to see the comprehensive deal. he doesn't want to go all the way to citizenship. he realizes that is unrealistic,

at least as long as republicans are in charge of congress. just absent the giving most illegal immigrants citizenship. >> and you're talk about how florida in a way is -- they have a different voting crowd but when you look at poll that we just showed of florida voters, jeb bush with that position is at 7%. former governor of this state, 7%. that's in florida. >> absolutely. it's pretty stunning and marco rubio in third place at 16%. >> yeah. >> you know, this mirrors obviously the national trend. there is some acknowledgement from the rubio and bush camps. they are confident that eventually they can turn this around because they have the organization. you can see it in the halls. they have the most volunteer support. they are probably going to get some of the loudest cheers and bush has the support of the entire state gop establishment is with them. if they are still in the mention, when the primaries are held here, that they can hold

this thing. >> ed o'keefe, thank you. good to see you. >> likewise. >> we've talked via satellite. good to see you in person. and now to president eisenhower's deportation plan that trump praised in the debate known as operation wetback. the operation deported an estimated 1 million americans to remote areas with sweltering heat and leaving some for dead. joining me now is a columbia professor who authored "impossible subjects" and also joining me is the organizing director at the leadership alliance astrid silva. what did eisenhower do 60 years ago? >> they had a military operation where they apprehended and deported hundreds of thousands of people, a million might be an

exaggeration but they used buses, trucks, airplanes trains and cargo ships to just dump people on the other side of the border or in the case of ships, ship them across the gulf of mexico. trump says it was a humane program because eisenhower was associated with it and he's a nice guy. but it was in no way a humane operation. >> well, 88 people died, right? >> 88 people died of heat stroke who had just been dumped on the other side of the border. if the red cross had not intervened in that instance, many more would have perished, i'm sure. >> how long was this program in place and how many people were deported on a we cannily, monthly basis? >> i think the program ran at its height for probably no more than six months and they were deporting 3,000 a day or picking up 3,000 a day on when they started. the thing to understand is that it didn't really solve the

problem. insofar as there were people coming to work on the farms without authorization. once this level of enforcement decreased, you know, it went back up again. the other part that trump doesn't talk about at all is the fact that while they were deporting people on the one hand, they were also legalizing people on the other hand. so a lot of growers who had hired undocumented workers got the ins to give them legal contracts to continue working. so trump is not really advocating for that part of the program. >> all right. and astrid, you're a dreamer. if mr. trump gets his way, you would be deported, along with your parents. is there nag canything that cou come of this discussion that would contribute to a positive manner as to which both sides say is a broken immigration system? >> it's scary to know that

somebody that has so much power as advocating for the removal of 11 million people, people that have set roots here, people like my family that have made a life in this country. to think that somebody would want to round us up and get rid of us, it goes to show what the real conversation is about. unfornlt, none of the other candidates have even denounced what mr. trump is talking about. we can't do what he is speaking of in deporting 11 million people. >> astrid, in the last debate, among others, jeb bush said exactly what you're saying. but the reality of the fact, astrid, is that, in your case, for example, you really don't know any other country but the united states of america. where would you go to and where would you find yourself? >> you know, i was brought here when i was 4 years old. my family -- my father has been here since 1989. he's never returned to mexico.

neither has my mom. and it just -- you know, our family, my grandparents have passed away. i only have one living grandmother. there's no connections. of course, we have the family connection but there's no real roots. my home is here in nevada and it's very sad to me to know that somebody would want to pick not only myself up but the rest of these families and take us away. >> again, i just wish there was a way to carry forward a conversation, a realistic conversation and an important conversation. i think everybody agrees the immigration system is broken. but by creating this as one of the possible solutions, i think it may take away from the seriousness of any discussion that would include dealing with the 11 million undocumented and also with the porous border and everything else. astrid, does your organization have a position on this? >> our position is always to support the families that are in need of this. this is how i came to this organization, because my family

needed the support and the help of just having guidance as to what to do. there are families right now living in fear that immigration is going to come to their door and pick them up. there's families at this moment -- doka has not gone in to place and families are afraid of being separated as i speak. we want to make sure that all of the candidates understand that we are paying attention not just to mr. trump's ludicrous comments but to the rest of the candidates so what they are proposing will actually benefit our families. >> astrid, it's important to underline what you said. deportations are occurring every single day in this country. families are being separated every single day in this country and that's happening as we speak. astrid silva and dr. nge, thank you for joining me. up next, this sunshine summit had a big kickoff dinner

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how do you get in to everything? >> one thing about tv, you're not allowed to play a fifth sword. i like to dress up. >> what was the mood in the room like there? >> he came on to the darth vader theme song and people loved it. he's embraced his inner dark side. >> talk to me about what he said. >> it was just your typical but very forceful republican stem liner, bashing obama for being weak and going over the litany from hillary clinton from her e-mail to bush scandal. >> you spoke to reporters that are not happy about the attendance? >> yes. one donor said that jeb has probably dealing with his brother's legacy and dick cheney certainly identified with the worst of the controversies, certainly the invasion of iraq.

>> talk to me about what bush and rubio have to accomplish here and how do you explain, marc, that the former governor of this state is at 7% in this state. >> you know, your guess is as good as mine. what we've seen over time is we have to remember that florida is a tv state. that's a lot of people that are watching their news. they are not reading it. what you see on national television is what you see locally and what people have been seeing nationally is bush not winning and winning begets winning and losing begets losing. >> florida has seen a huge increase in a number of folks from puerto rico who have reset tell tled here. how is that group of people that arrived in the last five to ten years changing the balance for florida? >> more and more, the central florida area, the orlando area

is little puerto rico. they vote democrat. obama was able to carry florida and in the end if you don't carry florida as a, republican, you're not going to carry the white house. interestingly enough, as he left kitchen. and when he did that, there was a number of puerto rican wait staff who all mobbed him. they stopped him and they wanted to take selfies with him. so, that might be a small example -- >> what do you think that is? what is that about him that he's able to actually reach out to that group of people that normally wouldn't be that interested in -- >> i think this is part of the personality of politics is that people are drawn to a story, and a lot of folks from puerto rico identify his classic story of my dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid, and that makes a difference. and he speaks spanish, and that counts for something. >> and let me put up a "washington post" headline from today, mark. "time for gop panic?" is it time for the gop to panic? i mean, is the establishment

worried that carson or trump might actually win? >> we've been writing these headlines for quite some time. we do have a little more time. we're still early, but i guess on the late side of early. in the end, the nominee's going to be the nominee, and if you could tell me who it's going to be, please tell me the winning lottery ticket numbers as well. >> it's going to be tough. but what has been pretty surprising to all is the consistency in the support that the outsiders have found and continue to find. >> right. in all these polls, if you add up the outsider candidates, you add up donald trump, you add up ben carson -- >> i think cruz to a certain degree. >> in the end, i think cruz is really going to be the story we're going to be paying attention to. he's poised to have a real rise if donald trump and ben carson start to hemorrhage their support. >> mark caputo, a pleasure to see you. thank you so much. >> thank you so much. >> thanks for being with me. updating breaking news, the air strike targeting the mass terrorist known as jihadi john. he spoke with an english accent, you'll remember, killed at least seven hostages. u.s. officials are working to determine if he was actually killed in that strike.

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a movie based on the dramatic 2010 rescue of 33 chilean miners hits theaters today. the miners are trapped 200 stories under ground for 69 days after the san jose copper gold mine they were working in collapsed. "the 33" features a star-studded cast, antonio banderas, lieu diamond phillips, and i sat down with kate about the movie and the story of hope and perseverance that the movie set. >> these people were 70 days trapped in a mine. they didn't even know they were searching for them, you know? and they had nothing to eat, nothing to drink, nothing, and they survived because they believed. they never stopped believing. it was a tragedy that ended up

as a miracle. so, we do not see that. and i think it's a very amazing example for other countries, like, unfortunately, mexico, where i'm from, to dig for them and to go and look for those miners, because -- >> and never give up. >> and never give up, because i mean, every single, just one life is worth it. >> at the top of the next hour, much more from the sunshine summit here in orlando, florida, where the majority of the gop presidential field will be speaking today. plus, the very latest on that u.s. air strike that targeted the isis executioner known as jihadi john. the u.s. is now working to confirm whether he was killed in the strike. we're going to get a live report next right here on msnbc. stay with me. at planters we know how to throw a remarkable holiday party. just serve classy snacks and be a gracious host, no matter who shows up. [cricket sound]

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group's days are numbered. so far, the u.s. has not confirmed whether the man whose real name is mohammed emwazi, was killed in the attack. however, local activist groups in the area of syria, where the attack took place, say he is dead. joining me now by phone is msnbc's richard engel in athens and kevin baron, military analyst and executive editor of "defense one." richard, what more do you know this morning? >> reporter: well, we know that he was specifically targeted by the u.s. military, but they've been looking for him for a long time. but after his identity was revealed publicly in february, last february, he had become harder to track. he went under ground. there were reports even that he went out of the of the country, and there were reports that he had been in libya. so, he had been a hard target to track that, according to activists, there was an explosion in raqqah that

activists believe was a drone strike. activists are saying they think that was a drone strike that killed him, that the area was closed off by isis shortly after the attack. raqqah is the isis capital, a very difficult place to get information out of. outsiders are not allowed in, and the people who live there are in terror of their isis captors or they're isis supporters themselves. u.s. military officials have told me that he was the target, that they are still assessing the information, and they are not at this stage providing 100% confirmation. >> so, kevin, is this a symbolic hit? i mean, the world knew of him, unfortunately, for his ruthlessness, disgusting work. but how important is he or was he in the isis structure? >> well, that's exactly right, a symbolic hit, for certain, or else we wouldn't be hearing about it, you know. the pentagon only decides when to announce these hits when it's someone of note.

so, there's probably no more popular figure from isis for western audiences than jihadi john. i mean, the only other person really would be baghdadi himself, the leader of isis. but again, this is a guy who is not local to the region. he came over, he became very popular. he was, you know, the executioner in the videos. he's not the organizing factor. he's not the top structure. he's not baghdadi. that's the real big fish here. >> and richard, if it is, indeed, this jihadi john who was hit, this would be the united states working with the brits, mostly? >> reporter: the brits have come out and said that -- david cameron has said that the two governments worked "hand in glove," was a british citizen, or if he's not been killed, is a british citizen. this obviously is a very significant story for the uk, because so many british foreign jihadis have traveled to syria,

traveled to iraq to fight with isis, and it is something that european countries and britain in particular are deeply concerned about. but the actual military strike was, as far as i know, a u.s. military strike. but the british government could have certainly been involved in gathering intelligence, finding out more about his background, finding out more about the connections he had. this was an individual who had been involved with extremist groups and heavy crime in the uk for the last several, several years and had been linked to other plots in the uk and other jihadist movements, in particular, sending weapons and supplies to north africa to somali groups. >> and kevin, very quickly, the u.s. is pretty certain they got him? >> that's right. so, this morning, a senior u.s. military official told me that this was u.s. predator drone with hellfire missiles, that

they're 100% certain -- that's the phrase -- that they killed two men leaving a building going to a car, but they say they are reasonably certain it was jihadi john. another u.s. official told me very likely. this is as much as you'll get out of the pentagon until they get forensic evidence of the bodies on the scene. again, the pentagon very rarely goes this far out without being so certain. we'll know more in the next hour. the 11:00 hour, there's a briefing from the commander in baghdad on the record and we'll see what we can find out then. >> kevin and richard, thank you very much for being with me this morning. and now to lebanon, where a rare and devastating suicide attack has prompted an emergency meeting among top officials, plunging the country into mourning. investigators are now digging through the rubble left after a pair of suicide bombings killed more than 40 people and wounded more than 200. isis is claiming credit for the attack and indicated it targeted the area specifically because it is a stronghold for hezbollah. nbc 4 correspondent ayman

mohyeldin is live for us in beirut this morning. and ayman, when i said it's a rare occurrence, that says a lot for a country that in the past has dealt with so much violence and has been in the past couple of years trying to kind of get out of that cycle of violence. >> reporter: yeah, i mean, by all indications, what is now happening inside syria's having a direct impact here in lebanon. now, there's no doubt on the battlefields of syria what we are seeing hezbollah, an organization that the united states considers as a terrorist organization, is providing military support and tactical advice backing the syrian regime, the government of president bashar al assad, as he -- groups such as isis and other rebel groups, trying to deflod dethrone him or knock him out of power. isis has been fighting against the syrian regime now for some time in addition to other groups, more moderate groups, as well as al qaeda-backed groups. and as a result of that, isis

now is claiming responsibility for this attack yesterday by also bringing the fight against hezbollah here to lebanon, here to its own backyard where hezbollah certainly has not only public support among the shia population, but across broader lebanon by some extent. and in the neighborhood where we saw the attack happen yesterday, in the southern neighborhood of beirut, it is predominantly shiite. it is a neighborhood where hezbollah has a very strong presence. they have a very strong security presence and they control access to it. so, this was very much a message from those who are carrying out this attack that they are able to come really to the heart of hezbollah's public support, popular support here in lebanon and carry out an attack of this magnitude. >> in the past, ayman, i mean, if you went from beirut to balance back, for example, you had to go through syrian checkpoints some years ago, but hezbollah has certainly been all over that area. has hezbollah really been that

strong in lebanon, especially on the outskirts of beirut? >> reporter: absolutely. i would not underestimate hezbollah's capabilities within lebanon. there have been some analysis that suggest hezbollah over the course of the last several years that it has been fighting in syria has had some of its manpower drained and certainly some supporters. it's lost some inside syria, but its capabilities here inside lebanon to maintain a very strong presence is still very robust. the organization's popularity may have waned because of the conflict that's waged on inside seera, but in terms of its status here in lebanon, it is still very much considered a political organization by some, certainly has its own problems to the domestic political front, but no doubt, it still has a very strong, robust presence, enjoys tremendous support, particularly among the shia population of lebanon for other activities that hezbollah does.

but nonetheless, it is still a very dominant, potent force within lebanese politics. >> ayman mohyeldin in beirut, lebanon, for us this morning, thank you very much. over the next 24 hours, most of the candidates for president will be making their pitch. here in florida at the sunshine summit, donald trump will be here after a whirlwind rally last night in iowa. trump went on a remarkable rant for more than an hour and a half. he repeatedly attacked chief rival ben carson over his past and qualifications for the job. >> he said he's got pathological disease. he actually said pathological temper, and then he defined it as disease. so, he says he has pathological disease. if you're a child molester, a sick puppy, you're a child molester, there's no cure for that. there's only one cure. we don't want to talk about that cure. that's the ultimate cure. well, there's two. there's death and the other thing. but if you're a child molester,

there's no cure. they can't stop you. pathological, there's no cure. now, he said he was pathological. okay. >> nbc's chris jansing is in greenville, south carolina, and here in orlando, hallie jackson. ladies, good to see you both. hallie, what was this all about yesterday? >> so, this wasn't just trump being trump, jose. this was like trump to the nth degree. he talked for 90 minutes plus, giving this, i think you called it epic, this wild speech the people seemed to respond to. i think a couple things are going on here. one, he's going after carson, like we've seen before, although in a different manner, because carson has been doing well, and in some cases better than trump in a lot of these different polls. second, after the debate this week, who did we talk about? not donald trump a whole lot, right? >> right. >> we talked about ben carson, marco rubio, ted cruz, and even to some degree rand paul and jeb bush, but trump wasn't in the spotlight. so, this is a way for him to grab that back.

the other thing, though when you look at the tone and the mood of the room last night, people seemed to be into it, right? you kind of can't tell that from the clips we're playing, but people were laughing, people were smiling. he had the crowd with him. trump supporters -- he has said things over the last six months or so that have raised a lot of eyebrows, as you know. >> oh, yeah. >> a litany of things. it hasn't hurt him at all among his supporters in the polls. so, this may be something where the folks who like trump and back trump because he is politically incorrect aren't going to blink an eyelash about. >> so, chris, every poll we are seeing points to ben carson still being the most popular candidate in the race on either side. how risky a move is this for trump? >> reporter: yeah, you have to wonder strategically what the thought process is, if there was any. hallie just mentioned how well ben carson is doing in polls. one of them recently is here in south carolina, where he's moved ahead. i think he gained 13 points since the last time a poll was taken. and here's something significant that nbc "first read" pulled out

this morning. when people were asked could you see yourself voting for ben carson, from march to july, that number averaged 41%. but look at it now in september and october. 75% say they could see themselves backing ben carson. and there is a second part of what trump said last night that i think is particularly troublesome for donald trump. and it's that he mocked, essentially, spoke with disdain about a central part of ben carson's story, which is that he had done some violent acts as a youth and he had this transformative experience where he really felt he developed a relationship with jesus. and here's what trump said about it last night. "he goes into a bathroom for a couple of hours, he comes out and now he's religious? it doesn't happen that way," and he told voters, "don't be fools." well, to call evangelical voters who make up a big part of the electorate in places like here in south carolina, in iowa, that they're fools because they believe people have

transformative religious experiences is indeed a very risky move on his part, jose. >> yeah, i think i agree with chris, i think that could potentially be dangerous for him, just because this is a different sort of tone of attack that trump has taken. he's called out ben carson before for being somewhat low energy. he's talked about some of the other issues carson has had, but we haven't seen trump be this sharp and pointed about that redemption story. >> so far, nothing has really stuck to him. let's see what happens now. >> teflon chop. >> thank you very much, hallie jackson and chris jansing, for being with me this morning. appreciate your time. so much ahead on this special hour of msnbc, live from the sunshine summit in orlando, florida, critical background state in the presidential election. joining me next, the chairman of the republican party. and we're going to go to -- we're going to closely continue to watch for you the breaking news out of syria on the status of the notorious isis terrorist known as jihadi john, targeted by an air strike overnight. breaking details as we get them right here on msnbc.

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back now from orlando, where the sunshine summit is about to get under way. nearly all of the republican presidential candidates will be here at some point. today the two floridians in the gop race will speak, marco rubio at the top of the hour and jeb bush later this afternoon. both are behind in the latest poll of florida republicans. take a look at where jeb bush is, 7%, marco rubio at 16%, but it's not over until it's over. and with me now is florida state representative blais an goalie, also chairman of the florida republican party. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> thank you for being with me. >> thank you for having me. >> you have all candidates but one coming in in the florida summit p.m. what is it about florida that makes it so important? >> well, florida is the prize when it comes to both the general election and with the primary. we are the largest, most diverse

swing state and a candidate that can prove that he or she can win the state of florida is the candidate that has the organizational strength to win the white house and defeat hillary. >> 99 delegates, winner take all. >> yes, 99 delegates, winner take all. we are the first state in the union to go 99 delegates winner take all, while everyone before that is proportionry. we are the prize. >> let's talk about how florida is maybe a little different from other states. and is the florida primary voter different from the general voter? >> yeah, i would say that the prime rae voter is typically a little bit more conservative. it's what you see in republican primaries, but this state is very, very large, very diverse. it takes about 10 to 12 hours to get from one end of the state to the other end of the state. you have democrats in the panhandle, which is much different than democrats down south in palm beach, and you have republicans that are different jacksonville than in ft. myers. and the candidate and the campaign who can understand those nuances is a candidate that's going to have a leg up in this state.

>> this whole i-4 corridor here in orlando has become very important because of the influx of folks from puerto rico who have left that island, have come here, resettled, and they're able to immediately register to vote. how important is the latino community for the republican party in florida? >> look, it's very important. we need to increase our foothold in those communities. i will tell you that in conjunction with the rnc, the rpof, the republican party of florida, we have been in those communities since early this year, we have had boots on the ground. we are knocking on doors, we are talking to people. we have community leaders that we are engaging with, talking about the things that are important to them, so then we can match up their values with our message. >> is it tough when you have some candidates saying, for example, that their solution to the immigration problem is to deport on mass 11 million-plus people? is it difficult when you have that person who is leading your state right now with that message? >> well, i would say that we're not here -- the party isn't here

to call balls and strikes. what we're here to do is just make sure that we're building up the infrastructure, so no matter who, he or she is the republican nominee -- >> but is it difficult going into the communities you're talking about where you are going -- maybe in the past you hadn't -- is it difficult when that message is the one everyone's talking about? >> look, we're a diverse state and our candidates are diverse and not every message will resonate with everybody, but that's for the voters to decide, not the party. >> chairman, thank you for joining me. so appreciate your time. we are talking about republicans here in orlando, but tomorrow in iowa, the three democratic candidates will square off in their second presidential debate. bernie sanders, is he going to be taking the gloves off as he tries to cut into hillary clinton's lead? msnbc's steve kornacki joins me with what to expect. steve, good morning. >> good morning, jose. yes, you mentioned hillary clinton's lead. we can set the scene for what we're looking at in iowa, the most recent poll in iowa among democrats, an 18-point lead for hillary clinton over bernie sanders, 55%-37%.

that's what bernie sanders is up against tomorrow night. to talk more about this, i'm joined by one of saturday's debate panelists, kathy o'br o'bradovich, a columnist with "the des moines register." she's joining us now. kathy, thank you for taking a few minutes. i want to talk with "the new york times" previewing the debate tomorrow night, they say their sources telling them that senator bernie sanders of vermont is preparing new lines of attack against hillary clinton on trade, on gun control, even the controversy over her state department e-mail that they could use tomorrow night, if the subjects come up. so, i'm just curious, you've been involved inplanning this debate. is the e-mail controversy something you think will come up tomorrow night? >> well, i can't telegraph what our questions are going to be. there's going to be a ton of issues. and i have to tell you, if bernie sanders comes trying to mix it up, there is going to be a variety of opportunities for him to do that. you know, he has already telegraphed that he wants to

create sharper contrasts with hillary clinton. even when he was here for the jefferson jackson dinner a couple weeks ago, he talked about gun control and he also talked about, you know, issues like gay marriage, where hillary clinton he thought was a late adopter of a position. so, there is a risk, though, for bernie sanders to go too hard and too aggressive at this debate. one of the things that bernie sanders supporters liked about him in the first debate was that he was civil, that he actually defended hillary clinton. so, i think he has to be careful about alienating his supporters and also undecided people that he's trying to attract. >> yes, civil, and that's sort of been the tone of his political career. and of course, at that first debate, he went out of his way to say he's sick and tired of her "damn e-mails" being in the news, so it would be interesting if he goes down that road. i want to ask you, too, about hillary clinton's position in iowa right now. we all remember the last time she ran for president, iowa was the beginning of the end for

her. she didn't just lose, she finished in third place. now lately, i've been seeing -- we put the poll up there, she's 18 points ahead -- she has gained ground in the last month in iowa. what is she doing differently in iowa this time than she was doing eight years ago? >> well, part of it is how she's campaigning in iowa. she has really taken the time to intersperse a lot of really on-the-ground retail campaigning with her bigger events. also, i think that iowans are seeing the effect of her having gotten past the benghazi hearings, having joe biden stay out of the race. she had a really good week back at the end of october, and she's continuing to pull away as a result. so, bernie sanders does need to, i think, mix something up and make some changes. it's just a question of whether going sharply negative is the right approach. >> you know, i just, quickly, i heard some grumbling from people

around sanders and from people around o'malley. they said, first of all, they believe there haven't been enough debates, there aren't going to be enough debates on the democratic side and they're looking at this one saying, well, we got one, but it's a saturday night debate. this is 9:00 p.m. on a saturday night, might reduce the audience a little bit. what do you make of that? >> well, you know, i think that you have to take the debates when they're scheduled. and you know, there are going to be a lot of people in iowa, i think, who watch this debate who are interested because it's in iowa, for one thing, and also, it's the first debate where we have only three democratic candidates. so, you're starting to see an opportunity to get right down to the people who are most likely to get the nomination. so, i do think there is going to be interest in this debate. and you know that the debate goes on after the lights turn off, you know. it continues in videos and ads and all kinds of things, so people will have an opportunity to hear what the candidates said, whether they're watching or not on saturday night.

>> yes. it will also continue, i should note, at 11:00 p.m. eastern time here on msnbc with my post debate special. get a plug in for that. thank you, kathie obradovich from "the des moines register." >> thank you, steve. >> jose, back to you in orlando. >> steve kornacki, thank you very much. much more from the sunshine summit here in orlando. and we have new information on the air strike targeting jihadi john. details next here on msnbc. dave's been working on his game, morning double bogie. hey, three putt. and starting each day with a delicious bowl of heart healthy kellogg's raisin bran. how's your cereal? sweet! tastes like winning. how would you know what winning tastes like? dave loves the two scoops and that kellogg's raisin bran is one more step towards a healthy tomorrow. you eat slower than you play. you're in a hurry to lose, huh? oh, ok! invest in your heart health, with kellogg's raisin bran. no crying today... could protect you from diabetes?

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white house grounds where visitors with appointments check in to be admitted. investigators say the officer was 37-year-old lee robert moore of churchill, maryland. they say he began sending sexually explicit text messages in august to somebody he thought was a 14-year-old girl but who turned out to be an undercover officer for the delaware state police. court documents say in one message, moore said he was "sitting at box office-style booth checking i.d.s for entrance into a building." the documents say he also sent a sexually explicit picture of himself to this person he thought was 14. he was relieved of duty last week, put on leave. prosecutors say after he was arrested, he admitted sending the explicit messages and photos that he sent from someone from the white house duty post, jose. >> pete williams, thank you very much. we have much more from the gop sunshine summit here in orlando, plus a battle brewing out west. a gay couple promising to fight

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we are back from orlando, where the sunshine summit featuring republican presidential candidates is about to get under way. the debate over immigration's sure to come up. it took center stage at this week's debate after donald trump reiterated his plan to remove up to 11 million undocumented immigrants. and now, president obama is responding to trump's proposal. >> imagine the images on the screen flashed around the world as we were dragging parents away from their children and putting them in, what, detention centers, and then systematically sending them out. nobody thinks that that is realistic, but more importantly, that's not who we are as americans. >> with me now from miami is

allen gomez, who covers immigration for "usa today." allen, good to see. was jeb bush right this week when he said that the clinton campaign is doing high-fives when they hear republicans like mr. trump talk that way? >> absolutely. i mean, you saw it immediately afterwards, much of her staff was actually tweeting, saying yeah, absolutely that's what we're doing. the more the republican party talks about this mass deportation plan of donald trump, the better it is for any democrat. there is incredible similarity across the republican board when it comes to immigration issues, when it comes to border security, when it comes to enforcement in the interior, when it comes to reforming the legal immigration system. but the fact that donald trump knro is the front-runner and is advocating such an extreme position on this mass deportation and keeps the focus on that, it sort of dilutes the fact that the rest of them are pretty much on the same page on everything else. >> interesting. here's a question for you, alan, how loudly is marco rubio silenced on this issue?

>> it's interesting. marco rubio, ever since he was part of that group that passed that broad comprehensive immigration bill through the senate in 2013 has basically been trying to get away from that bill ever since. i mean, i remember just even the celebratory press conference right after that bill was passed by the senate, he was absent from that. he was trying to get away from it ever since. so, he's tried to sort of maintain a lower profile on immigration throughout during this week's debate. as everybody was going back and forth over this, a question didn't get thrown at him. so, i think he won't be able to keep silent. he's going to have to really explain why he was for a pathway to citizenship throughout that process, why he's backed away from that now. and so, we've got plenty of time. we'll be able to hear it, but you know, i think today, where you guys are in orlando, it's a good opportunity for him to maybe jump in on this as it's become such a big issue throughout the week. >> is there any candidate on the gop that is really reaching through to, let's say, latinos and others that see this

discourse in the gop as being a bit strident? >> i mean, the only one that we heard, at least on tuesday, was kasich. i mean, he was the one that was coming out the more forcefully against donald trump's plan, calling it not a serious proposal, not an adult proposal. so, that really jumped out. but when we talk about those guys who are in the top three or four, it's -- this debate has made it difficult to really stand out and reach out to those hispanics because they're spending so much time talking about mass deportation, talking about who's for citizenship and who's not, and they're not able to really get to the issues that i think they want to talk about, like reforming the legal immigration system to make it easier for workers to get into the country. and so, we're spending so much time and they're having to defend each other or accuse each other of taking some extreme positions when it comes strictly to enforcement that it makes it harder for them to have that calmer conversation with those hispanic voters. >> alan gomez of "usa today," it's good to see you.

thanks for being with me this morning. >> good to see you, jose. out west, a juvenile court judge in utah has ordered the removal of a foster care child from her home because her foster parents are gay. the married couple had been caring for the 1-year-old girl for the past three months, but the judge says he believes the baby would be better off in the care of a heterosexual couple. the couple spoke last night on "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." >> it was heartbreaking and devastating. i had to try to keep my emotions together, but it was very hard. >> we knew that he didn't like same-sex couples, but we didn't expect this to happen. >> i'm going to bring in msnbc chief legal correspondent ari melber. thanks for being with me. on what basis did the judge make this decision? >> well, i'll start by telling you what basis they probably did not make the decision on, which is, of course, current federal precedent. the supreme court basically saying that same-sex couples are

legally equal to any other couples, and that makes this unlikely to stand in the long term, but as you just showed and as those parents told our own lawrence o'donnell last night in the short term, this is a local ruling. this judge, while not using that federal precedent, as i mentioned, or at least interpreting it to provide that kind of equality, this judge, according to the order and reports, is basically saying that he thinks that the sexual orientation of the parents would make them less good at caring for this child. again, i'm quoting our understanding of what the judge made the decision on, not federal precedent. >> yeah, and so, clearly, this is going to be appealed. and what are the odds that it's going to be overturned? >> so, let me put this carefully. we often talk about the fact that you can't predict what judges will do. people are often asking me, what's the supreme court going to do, and i almost always say we don't know, and that's why they're so powerful. they will decide. this isn't one of those situations, jose, because the court has already spoken in the

highest court of the land. so, i can tell you as a legal matter, we would expect this kind of decision to eventually be overturned based on current federal precedent. but again, that's when lawyers talk and people say, okay, fine, but what about now? right now this is still a local ruling that affects those parents and the child, and it would take some time for that process to play out. we will have to wait and see in the appeals. my understanding is there's one that would go to court within the next couple of weeks, but for now, this is the local ruling. >> ari melber, thank you very much for being with me. >> sure. >> good to see you. after the break, a space mystery reveals itself today. giant pieces of space junk are headed towards earth, and scientists don't exactly know what it is. they've nicknamed it wtf. a former astronaut is joining me with more next. i got a job! i'll be programming at ge.

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i want to get back to breaking news. we are getting in new information about the u.s. air strike targeting the isis terrorist known as jihadi john. msnbc pentagon producer courtney cubie is joining me. courtney, good morning. what's the latest? >> good morning, jose. a senior defense official is telling us there were three mq-9 reaper drones overhead at the time when jihadi john was believed to have been struck. what the u.s. is saying is there is overhead surveillance video showing two individuals, one believed to be mohammed emwazi, who is known as jihadi john, the main propagandist for isis. these two individuals left a building and got into a vehicle and started driving away when one of the reapers, the u.s. reaper, struck the vehicle, and i was told essentially obliterated it. u.s. officials are confident that at least two individuals died. what they can't say yet is

whether, in fact, jihadi john, mohammed emwazi, was one of those individuals. they've been tracking him for some time and are fairly confident he was the one who got into the vehicle. but this is the continuing problem we have with situations like this in syria and other locations like pakistan. when they strike a high-value target, they can't necessarily get dna on the ground, so they have to basically rely on chatter on web forums on the militants themselves, on isis themselves, to talk about the death of this individual before they can know whether, in fact, he was the one who was struck. >> and this occurred in raqqah, right, the isis's stronghold in syria? >> exactly, and that's the main reason that there are no u.s. on the ground anywhere near there, because it is an isis stronghold. it is surrounded by isis. it is such an intensely dangerous area. there's not even any kind of u.s. moderate syrian rebels, any kind of u.s. allies anywhere in

the region who might be able to go in and do any kind of a battle damage assessment on the ground to let the u.s. know whether, in fact, mohammed emwazi was struck. >> pentagon producer courtney kube, thank you very much. good to see you this morning. >> thank you. on this friday the 13th, it wasn't a bird, it wasn't a plane, and it wasn't superman. check out this video of a mysterious piece of space debris heading towards earth. scientists don't know exactly what this is. it's being named wt-1190f, leaving many to give it the name wtf, you know, for short. the unknown debris was expected to crash through the earth's atmosphere early this morning. joining me now, former astronaut leroy chiao. thanks for being with me. what do we know about where this object is right now? >> well, it's supposed to strike in the ocean off the coast of sri lanka. and the projections show it shouldn't pose a hazard to anybody or any shipping or anything like that.

it's probably part of an old booster that was launched to the moon, probably one of the apollo boosters. it's been orbiting the earth moon space for several decades. and because of the way orbital mechanics work, it finally got to the point where it's going to actually hit the earth's atmosphere. >> so, how many are there and how big are these things? >> well, it's probably a part of a third stage of an apollo booster or maybe a different probe that was sent to the moon. my understanding is it's several meters in length and maybe a few meters in diameter. it's probably a piece of a booster. it sounds like it's smaller than the actual third stage of an apollo, but it will be coming in at a pretty sharp angle, which is why we can predict with a pretty good amount of accuracy where it's going to hit as opposed to a satellite that slowly degrades with the shallow angles of the atmosphere. that's much more difficult to predict where it's going to come down. >> so, and it comes in really quick, i presume, right? >> right, comes in very fast. you know, when you send something to the moon, you're traveling somewhere around 25,000 miles an hour, so it's going to hit the atmosphere.

in all likelihood, it will break up and burn up and no pieces will actually hit the ocean. and so, it will be a bit of a light show if you happen to be looking at that spot, and then all the pieces will burn out. >> and then, so, we'll never really be able to find out what exactly it was as far as what apollo mission it came from, right? >> that's right. you know, the speculation is it's from one of the apollo missions. it could have been from one of the other probes that the u.s. or russia or someone else sent to the moon, but we do know that it's been orbiting the lunar space for a number of years, so it's most likely one of ours or one of the russians'. >> dr. chiao, nasa says there are what, more than 500,000 pieces of space junk being tracked as they orbit the earth. >> right. >> are any of these kind of risks, a danger in the future for us? >> well, sure. you have to be concerned. you have to take into account orbital debris. we certainly do on the international space station and we did during the shuttle program.

all spacecraft are shielded, so you can take little hits. most of the orbital debris that we do take hits from are tiny little rocks, basically like grains of sand or even paint flecks or things like that from old boosters, but you're traveling at enormous speeds, earth orbit is at 17,500 miles an hour. so, a good sized rock if you don't avoid it or have shielding could ruin your day. >> leroy chiao, thank you so much for being with me this friday the 13th. i appreciate your time. take care. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> we're going to take a quick break and we'll have more from the sunshine summit here in orlando with a special focus on orlando itself and what you don't know about the theme park capital of the world. be right back. ♪ the way i see it, you have two choices; the easy way or the hard way. you could choose a card that limits where you earn bonus cash back. or, you could make things easier on yourself. that's right, the quicksilver card from capital one.

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florida's own marco rubio will be taking the stage first here at the state's gop sunshine summit in a few minutes. rubio, along with home state rival jeb bush will be among 14

presidential candidates stumping for votes in this critical primary state. nbc's hallie jackson is here. good to see you. the elephant in the room when it comes to mark you rubio, immigration. >> yeah. this has been a big issue for him over the last few days. he will certainly be asked about it and interactions with the media afterwards and we may hear about it in his speech at the sunshine summit. he's defending himself after ted cruz went on the attack given that he was a supporter of the immigration bill in 2014, a position he's backed away from since then as immigration's become a hot topic on the trail. getting the vibe of the sunshine summit here, it's a hometown crowd for governor bush, for senator rubio. i just met a young man who's 17, he skipped school to come here and see marco rubio -- >> he skipped school -- >> his parents know about it. he's not old enough to vote but likes senator rubio. >> do you think immigration will be discussed, except with the possibility of donald trump, in a different way than we've been hearing it on the stump?

>> you have to look at the audience. we're here in florida. this is a crowd that's sort of the establishment republican party of florida. they will want to hear plans for immigration reform, and i think you might see a different tone from donald trump than we've seen, especially over the last 24 hours. >> interesting that jeb bush is actually with 7% in the latest poll here in florida. >> below some of the guys you'd think would be polling better or polling worse than him. >> yeah, what does trump -- i mean, bush have to do here? >> well, i think there's been a lot of talk about getting support from his donors and making sure he shores up that establishment support in florida. a lot of these folks do like senator rubio. they've known him for a couple years since he oon about in the senate. so, even though bush is a long-term establishment guy, he's worked up goodwill among these establishment folks, there's still a sense people are maybe not coalescing around him yet. >> there haven't been a lot of direct attacks at rubio, other than this one that cruz gave. >> yeah, from the other candidates. well, even you saw jeb bush go

after rubio in the third debate -- >> didn't work out for him. >> exactly. he's back ed away from that. the two almost never acknowledged each other during the last debate, so he's backing off, given the fact that it turned off the establishment voters that he was going after rubio. even ted cruz until recently on immigration, it's been a little more veiled. you heard him talk about sugar subsidies, huge here in florida, at the debate, which probably went over a lot of people's heads -- >> except here in florida. >> exactly. >> and marco rubio, who gets a lot of support from the folks that receive sugar subsidies. >> yeah. it was a little jab at him, sort of subtle, but an indication of where cruz might be going in the coming weeks and months. >> hallie, as we wrap up this hour, we do five unusual things. >> my favorite segment. >> there's only one person who's done five things along with me, president obama. >> whoa. >> he and i did five things together some time ago. i'm asking you, would you be the second person -- >> it would be my supreme honor. >> since so you're hip and cool.

>> i'm nervous now. >> we decided to take the show on the road and figured we'd tell you some things you may not know about orlando, and,why we bring you today's "five things orlando," the city beautiful. first one, orlando or jernigan? it was originally named jernigan after the first settler who arrived. it was renamed orlando to honor orlando reeves, a soldier killed during the wars. >> number two, theme parks. even though many people fly into orlando to go to the theme parks, walt dizey world is actually not part of the city of orlando. it's actually in lake buena vista, but one park that is in orlando, universal studios. of course, it's owned by nbc news' parent company, nbcuniversal. >> thank you for clearing that up. the university of central florida is the second largest university in the country with 63,000 students. as a matter of fact, almost half of its student body this year is made up of minorities hailing from all 50 states and over 140

countries. go, knights. >> number four, boy band, one of my favorite topics. some of the most popular heartthrobs of the late '90s, early 2000s started in florida. >> i was in a boy band once. >> i expect you to sing me a few bars. backstreet boys and 'n sync formed here. and your favorite band, o-town, started here in orlando. >> you know where mineo wut min was started? orlan orlando. and elder price sings about orlando being his favorite place and hopes to be sent here for his mission. but he gets sent to uganda instead. hallie jackson, let me tell you something, i have to say that the president was phenomenal on the five things. by the way, if you can, check them out. they're still on the page. >> i'll look for the link. >> when the president and i did five things, but you were phenomenal. >> i'm touched, thank you. >> what was your favorite boy band? >> i was an 'n sync person. now that's out there publicly, but i was. >> hallie jackson, thank you

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good morning, everyone. i'm tamron hall. we begin with breaking news this morning. right now, u.s. officials are trying to confirm whether a u.s. drone strike in syria killed the public face of isis, the notorious executioner known as jihadi john. a senior defense official just told nbc news that the u.s. has overhead video showing someone believed to be jihadi john exiting a building in the isis stronghold of raqqah and getting into a vehicle. that vehicle was then struck by a u.s. drone. we may learn more from the u.s. military in a briefing set to begin any minute from now in baghdad. jihadi john is the knife-wieldi knife-wielding, hooded man with a thick british accent seen in a

series of videos this year and last murdering american, british and japanese hostages. he was identified in february as mohammed emwazi, who was born in kuwait and grew up in london. this morning, british prime minister david cameron said the drone strike was a joint effort by british and u.s. intelligence agencies working around the clock to track him down. >> he was isil's lead executioner. and let us never forget that he killed many, many muslims, too. and he was intent on murdering many more people. so, this was an act of sel self-defense. it was the right thing to do. >> what we know about mohammed emwazi's background is that he was born, as mentioned, in kuwait. he was college educated and he left britain in 2012 for syria. he's believed to be in his mid-20s and has been described by a former hostage as a blood-thirsty psychopat